The Anniversary
by wannabmrsmanoso
Summary: Ranger and Steph go out to their 17th aniversary. But, what happens when an old problem, for lack of a better word, resurfaces? BABE FIC! Oneshot


Disclaimer: I don't own any Characters other than Ric, Anna and Manuel. And the Song is "Livin' Our Love Song" by Jason Michael Carroll. Oh, how I wish Ranger was mine.

Rating: PG for language, suggestive content (just to be safe)

This is not Morelli friendly. Be forewarned.

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Ranger finished putting on his suit and tie. Then, he went in search of the love of his life. Stephanie was putting on her jewelry and fixing her hair when Ranger strolled in. He leaned against the door frame and watched with great interest as she struggled with the clasp on her necklace. She knew he was in the room watching her when the hairs on the back of her neck stood up.

Smiling, she turned and said, "See something you like, Ranger?"

That earned her a full 2,000 watt smile and an, "Always, Babe. You want some help with getting that necklace on?"

"Sure, thanks Batman," Stephanie said, using an endearment he hadn't heard in quite a while. He crossed the room in three strides and kissed her neck while fastening her necklace.

"Ready to go, Babe? We need to get out of here if we don't want to miss our dinner reservations. And if we stay here much longer, I may not be able to control myself."

"Ok, I'm ready. Let's go give the kids last minute instructions. Oh, and Carlos? I love you."

"Love you too, Babe."

"Ricardo and Anna, please come here," said Stephanie and Ranger. The kids appeared in front of them almost instantly, skidding to a stop. Ricardo Kyle Manoso was tall, six feet at age 17; dark curly hair, nearly jet-black, and deep chocolate eyes. His skin was a creamy caramel latte color. He took after his father, in many ways, one of which was this: don't mess with his family. Another was: he was as silent as the night, so if he's behind you, you are almost guaranteed not to hear him.

Anna Rose Manoso was not as tall as Ricardo; however, at age 15, she was rather tall for her age. She was 5' 7'', and had wavy mahogany-colored hair. Her eyes were a forget-me-not blue, nearly identical to her mother's. She had a slender figure, and looked delicate, but, in reality, she was quite powerful.

"While we are gone, Ricardo is in charge. Rangeman will monitor the alarm systems and surveillance footage. You will set the security systems as soon as we leave. Tank will let you know if there are any problems and how to proceed. You know the drill," said Ranger.

Anna instantly started pouting and saying that it wasn't fair, but Ranger shot her a look and she immediately stopped. Ranger and Steph climbed into the Porsche and left the house and Ricardo began following Ranger's orders. Anna began arguing with Ricardo about how unfair this all was, and how he was far too overprotective and never let her do anything. She left the living room in tears, ran to her room and slammed her door. Ricardo was sitting there exasperated, wondering how his father lived with two females like his sister and his mother.

Meanwhile, Ranger and Steph had a wonderful dinner at his brother Manuel's club and proceeded to the dance floor for a nice slow dance when the song "Livin' Our Love Song" by Jason Michael Carroll came on. As Ranger pulled Stephanie to him they lost themselves in the words.

_Baby when I look at you with your hair fallin' down in your baby blues_

_Standing there across the room I get so lost in the way you move_

_It makes me reminisce back ten years ago on a night like this_

_Teary eyed as you took my hand and I told you that I'd be your man_

_So many things have come so many things have gone_

_One thing that's stayed the same is our loves still growing strong._

_Chorus: Baby just look at us all this time and we're still in love_

_Something like this just don't exist_

_Between a backwoods boy and a fairy tale princess_

_People said it would never work out_

_Living our dreams and shattered all doubts_

_It feels good to prove 'em wrong_

_Livin' our love song._

_Oh darling would you look at me_

_With my heart beating fast and my shaking knees_

_It's pretty hard to believe after all these years I still need you this badly_

_You're dancing in my arms with a spotlight moon in a sea of stars_

_Oh girl we've come so far everything I wants is everything that you are_

_Just want to lay you down_

_Say I love you without a sound_

_I think you know what I'm talking about._

_(Chorus)_

After dancing, they said goodnight to Manuel and went to the lot to get into the Porsche.

Manuel noticed the problem on the monitor and called Tank at Rangeman to let him know. Tank said, "Holy hell!" and tore out of Rangeman like a bat out of hell to get the kids and bring them back.

Tank called when he was outside the door and had Rangeman override the security system so he could get in without setting the alarm off. Tank's voice boomed out to the kids and asked them to come to him quickly and tells them there is an emergency and they need to go with him to Rangeman.

They arrived back at Rangeman, and Tank took them to the apartment so he could talk to them.

Tank said, "Ric, Anna, your parents went missing from the parking lot of your Uncle Manuel's establishment. He noticed Ranger's Porsche in the lot with the passenger door standing open. He called us to let us know and that is why you are here now. He's reviewing the surveillance tapes to see if he can find anything. Don't panic- we'll find them. Conference room C in ten."

As Tank left the apartment Anna started to panic, she couldn't help it. Ric went over and hugged her and said, "Mom and Dad have been through this all before, they'll be ok; Anna why don't you stay here and rest, I'll go to the meeting and check in with you later."

Anna got upset by this and said, "You can't keep cutting me out of things. I can help, I want to help, I need to help and I will, darn you. This is exactly the kind of thing I was upset over earlier Ricardo."

Ricardo hugged her to him again and soothingly said, "I know sweetheart. I'm sorry; I have forgotten that you are growing up." She looked up at her brother with those big blue eyes and sighed. Then she said," You know you sound just like Daddy."

She felt him chuckle against her and noticed the corners of his mouth twitching up. When he regained his control, he looked down at his little sister and said, "You have mom's eyes and you sounded just like her. Uncle Tank told me once that he and dad used to try to do that with mom and it never worked. She would react just like you did. Oh well, it was worth a try. Let's get to the meeting."

They left the apartment and went to conference room C. After everyone was settled around the table, Tank called for their attention by clearing his throat. Tank turned to Manuel and asked for a report. Manuel replied by saying he couldn't find anything of use on the surveillance video, but that if they wanted to try with their equipment they were more than welcome to and he then handed the tape to Tank. Tank then looked around the room, asking for ideas. Lester said they had gone over the scene and that it had been secured, but they didn't find anything that could be helpful. Ric and Anna asked what they could do to help and Ric was assigned to help look at past skips, stalkers and distraction jobs that may be holding grudges. The guys would start using their street contacts, and when any of them had anything they were to give names to Anna so she could start running them through the computer.

As everyone was leaving the meeting they were telling Ric and Anna, "Don't worry, we'll find them. Ranger and Bombshell will come home." Tank was silently hoping that they were being held in the same place- although you'd have to be pretty dumb to do that.

Uncle Manuel came and hugged both kids and told them, "We'll find them. I know your parents they will be fine. They are fighters and won't let anything happen to themselves or the other. Stay strong, and keep faith. I'll be staying with you here until we find them. Let's get to work."

Stephanie looked up, blinking, and shook the cobwebs from her head. She took stock of her surroundings and realized she was in an unfamiliar house. She panicked as she became aware of the fact that she was tied to a chair and her legs seemed to be bound as well. She looked around again and noticed that she didn't see Ranger. She wondered what she had gotten into this time. The last thing she remembered, she and Carlos were getting into the Porsche in back of his brother Manuel's club after celebrating their anniversary with dinner and dancing. She had no idea where she was, how many days she had been missing, or who was holding her hostage; not to mention she had no idea where Ranger was. If she knew who was holding her hostage maybe she could use that information to get out of here.

She felt her stomach clench in fear at never seeing Carlos, Ric or Anna ever again. She heard Ranger's voice in her head telling her to focus herself and concentrate on getting loose and back home. She was breathing deeply, to calm herself, when suddenly, a door was yanked open and in staggered a very drunk Joe Morelli. Stephanie was in shock- she hadn't seen Joe since she married Carlos seventeen years ago. According to the burg grapevine he couldn't cope with losing her to Carlos and transferred to the Philly P.D. and moved to Philly. He hadn't been seen in Trenton since.

"Hey Cupcake," leered Joe, "I see you're finally awake."He was close enough that Steph could smell the alcohol radiating off him in waves and she had to fight the urge to gag. She realized he had been on a very long bender and was in fact probably still on it.

"Joseph Anthony Morelli, what in the hell do you think you are doing?"

"Manoso has you and you are supposed to be mine "replied Joe.

"You know Ranger will find me, right? And let me tell you, I wouldn't want to be you when he does."

"I have a surprise for you cupcake, stay here." Joe snorted then continued "Oh, wait that's right you can't move." Then he turned and staggered out the door. When he returned a short time later he had Ranger with him. Ranger looked a little worse for the wear. Steph looked at him and wanted to cry; instead she turned to wrath and asked Joe what had happened. Ranger told her that he hadn't wanted to hurt Morelli because he was worried it would upset her.

Steph said, Ranger, in this case I would make an exception; he is not the same Morelli that I used to know. He's gone over the edge of some imaginary cliff. From now on use whatever force we have to in order to get out of here. I want to see the kids again."

She knew they had to get out of there before Joe's pattern of violence escalated. She was relieved that she hadn't married Joe; he had turned into a violent drunk and womanizer, just like his father. Steph looked at Ranger and knew that he was trying to figure out a plan too. The look that passed between them said everything, it said, "I love you, we'll get out of this, it's going to be ok."

When Morelli left the room and locked the door she looked to Ranger and took a deep breath and drawing upon his strength said, Carlos, we'll get out of here", in a whisper she asked if he still had any weapons on him. He just shook his head no and said that he didn't think so. She told him she loved him and that Joe was being sloppy, so they should be able to take advantage of that.

[Meanwhile, Back at Rangeman

Tank called a progress report meeting and everyone once again assemble in the conference room. He asked for updates from everyone and Manuel started off with what he and the others had been able to see on the surveillance footage with the Rangeman equipment. They were able to get that they had been shot with tranquilizer shots and they were working on clarifying the image of the person that dragged them off. They were also working on attempting to identify the get-away vehicle and plate number. Then Ric was next saying, we are looking through previous and current skips, etc., but haven't been able to find anything yet. We'll keep working on it." Anna was next with her report of running searches on skips etc., but she was going to start looking at some different angles because to her this didn't feel like a classic kidnapping.

Tank asked for an explanation and she simply stated, There have been no demands made, no bodies floating on the tide, no pictures of them. I have a hunch and I'm going to call Carl Costanza and make an inquiry and see what I can turn up. I know it's someone from mom and dad's past, but I'm thinking it isn't a skip. After three days, this is feeling a little personal to me."

Then Bobby was standing and all eyes turned to him as he spoke his next words. I think baby girl may be onto something there, all our street contacts aren't saying that this was being done by the normal psycho element. I think she should call Costanza from here right now. I'd be interested to see what he says because I think I know where she's going with this and I think I agree."

Tank nodded and a phone was put in front of Anna on the table. She dialed the number for Carl and sat tapping a pencil as the phone rang. Suddenly Carl's voice filled the conference room.

Costanza here."

Hey Carl, it's Anna. I just want to give you a heads up that you are on speaker phone at Rangeman before I get into why I'm calling."

"Ok, kiddo. What's up?"

Bobby smiled and nodded his encouragement, Ric reached over and hugged her and everyone else just stared at the phone waiting for what was next.

"My mom and dad have been missing for three days and none of the normal channels are popping up anything. I'm thinking this is a personal grudge from the past. Have you heard anything on the cop or burg grapevine about Morelli lately? ''

Carl said, Yeah, uh, listen kiddo; I'm going to be straight with you. Who all is there?"

She said, "Uncle Manuel, Ric and all the Range men."

Costanza said, I'll be there in ten if someone will let me in. This should be discussed in person."

Tank here and we will let you in. I'll meet you at the garage. Try to make it in five." With that the call ended and Tank asked the guys on monitor watch to let him know when Costanza got there and to let him into the garage. They confirmed they would and Tank went back into the conference room. He looked at Anna and said, Care to explain, baby girl?"

If you don't mind Uncle Tank, I'd prefer to wait for Uncle Carl to get here and see what he has to say first." Just then, Tank was informed that Carl Costanza was pulling into the garage and strode from the room to meet him in the garage. Everyone was waiting and the tension in the room could have been cut with the switchblade that Anna knew was in the pocket of Ric's jeans. Tank escorted Carl into the room and he quickly crossed the room to hug Anna and Ric.

Here's what I know. I have heard that Morelli had been sighted around town at various drinking establishments and he was mouthing off in Pino's the other day to anyone who would listen, we just thought he was blowing smoke, so none of us said anything to you guys. We know now, that we should have and for that we are extremely sorry. ''

Tank interrupted him with, what exactly did he say, Carl?"

Carl told them that Morelli had been griping that Stephanie was his and that he should have done something about it years ago. And that he couldn't understand what she saw in a thug like Manoso and his buddies. Carl cringed as he said the last statement.

Ric told him, Uncle Carl, it's ok. We know what mom, dad and the guys do. We also know they aren't thugs. It sounds to me like this Morelli guy has a real chip on his shoulder. Where do you think he could be?"

Carl nodded and told them that Morelli moved to Philly seventeen years ago right after Steph and Ranger got married. At that Anna jumped from the room and ran to her mom's computer and did an extensive search on any and all property owned by Officer Joseph Anthony Morelli in the Trenton and Philadelphia areas and was rewarded with a couple of hits. She jumped up and took the results back to the conference room. She had made numerous copies on her way in and passed the sheets out to everyone. She had also gotten lists of his current phone numbers and began dialing them on speaker phone. As she dialed she asked Carl to talk to him when he came on and see if he could get any idea as to where he was holding her parents. The phone rang and suddenly Morelli's drunken voice filled the room. When Carl told him who it was he was just laughing and saying you guys thought I was just blowing smoke didn't you?"

Carl asked him what he meant by that and he said that he was holding Steph and Ranger hostage; but first he was going to toy with Manoso before getting him out of the picture so he could have Stephanie all to himself. They had traced the call to his house in Philly while he was bragging about what he was doing. Carl ended the call telling him that he should let them go before it becomes a problem. He asked if they wanted to have the Philly P.D. do a hostage negotiation, but they declined. They just asked him to call Philly P.D. and tell them that Rangeman was going to go in and get the two hostages out, but that they should have a car there to take Morelli in for kidnapping and a medic on scene. They also didn't want them to use lights or sirens. Carl nodded and went to work. Within an hour they had blueprints to Morelli's house and had devised a plan. They loaded up to rescue Steph and Ranger, leaving Ric, Anna, Manuel and Carl behind.

[Meanwhile, in Morelli's house in Philly

Morelli came back into the room and slurred, Cupcake, you are going to finally be mine. It took me seventeen years to figure out how."

"Screw you Morelli" spat Stephanie. Morelli just chuckled. Stephanie had been working the ropes loose and had untied her hands by the time Morelli leaned in for a kiss. She hit him in the chin with a nasty uppercut, knocking him backwards so that when he fell he knocked himself out. She quickly jumped to action. As she was reaching into her leg holster for her knife and cut herself free she heard Ranger chuckle.

"You never disappoint, Babe. And he's always underestimated you."

"Like I said Ranger, he's sloppy. Now let's get you out of those cuffs so we can get out of here shall we, Carlos?"

"Sounds good, Babe."

Stephanie found her purse and removed her lock pick from it. She proceeded to unlock the cuffs on Ranger's hands and the shackles on his feet and transferred them to Morelli. Before hoisting him into the chair, while Joe was still suspended in the air, she and Ranger held him up firmly by the shoulders. Stephanie grinned, and proceeded to knee Joe in the balls. Hard. Ranger smiled, and said, "Nice one, Babe." They then hoisted him into the chair that Ranger had just vacated and Ranger gave her a hug and said, God, I love you, Babe."

"I love you too, Carlos. That's what I meant by Morelli got sloppy, he assumed that you were the only viable threat and didn't think to check me for weapons. Shall we go find yours before sleeping beauty wakes up?"

"Yeah, I think that would be a good idea." So off they went in search of Rangers weapons and found them in the kitchen. Steph pulled out her cell phone and dialed Tank.

"Yo."

"Yo, yourself. Hey Tank, it's me Steph. Any way that you can trace this call and figure out where the hell Carlos and I are?"

"We already know Bombshell; we are about five minutes out. You guys ok?"

"Yeah, we're hungry and thirsty and Carlos is a little banged up, but other than that not bad. Care to tell me how you figured out where we were?"

"I'll let your kids tell you when they see you. You should be proud of them Bombshell. Anna has her momma's spidey sense."

"Ok Tank, see you in a few then. Thanks." Then they hung up.

About two minutes later there was a knock on the door and Ranger went and opened it with his gun drawn. There in the doorway stood Tank with a look of disbelief on his face.

"Steph got us out, and has Morelli handcuffed and shackled and awaiting his fellow cops. She also kneed him in the balls real hard. That'll hurt when he wakes up." Tank shook Carlos' hand then stepped over to Steph and picked her up and swung her around.

"Nice job Bombshell. Sounds like it's going to be an interesting debriefing."

The cops came in and carted off Morelli and took Steph and Carlos' information and asked if they wanted to press charges. They were answered with a resounding "Absolutely!" The medics checked Carlos and gave him the Ok to travel, so they all climbed into the SUVs to leave and return to Trenton. As they began to leave, Ranger asked Tank where the kids were and if they were ok. They were told the Kids were at Rangeman awaiting their arrival and that they were a little tired, but otherwise ok. Then Steph's stomach growled loudly and Tank chuckled and said, Next stop, food and something to drink." They hit a drive through and got food and something to drink and ate on the way home. Stephanie fell asleep cuddled in Carlos' arms and slept until they got back to Rangeman.

When they disembarked the elevator and walked onto the floor everyone was happy and applauding. The kids ran over to hug their parents and Manuel followed. When they went to conference room C for the debriefing, Carl Costanza stood up and shook Rangers hand and hugged Stephanie.

As everyone sat down for the debriefing, Ranger reached out and pulled Stephanie into his lap and held her tightly. Tank nodded to Manuel to start the meeting and Manuel stood and said, First off I'm glad to have my brother and sister-in-law back. I was the one who noticed your car on the monitor at my club. I immediately followed emergency protocol and called Tank and brought in the tape to review with the Rangeman equipment and the extra eyes."

As Manuel sat down, Tank stood up to continue by explaining his part, I went and picked up Ric and Anna from the house. I explained that there was a situation and brought them here, took them to seven and explained the problem and told them of the meeting."

Tank sat and nodded to Ric who stood and explained that he had in fact tried to convince Anna to stay behind and sleep because he underestimated her. At that Ranger chuckled and said, Never underestimate your sister or mother. I bet if she's anything like her mom, Anna hated being cut out didn't she?" Ric laughed and said that she had indeed thrown a huge fit and he let her come with him. He then hugged his sister and said, I'm glad you didn't back down sweetheart, we needed those keen instincts of yours. You really are your mother's daughter." At that Ric sat down and turned the floor back to Tank who proceeded with telling them that they began the protocol of checking past skips, etc. and checking the underground, but nothing was turning up until Anna came up with an idea. With that he turned the floor over to Anna.

Anna stood and said, I realized that this was a kidnapping of a more personal nature by about morning three. There had been no demands made, the skip angle wasn't panning out, the streets were quiet, and there had been no forewarning. So I got curious and started running searches on old articles about mom and dad and I noticed Morelli's name kept coming up from years ago, but that he was now off the radar. My "spidey sense" as everyone calls it was tingling and telling me something, so I asked Uncle Tank if I could call Uncle Carl and ask him about something. Uncle Carl came and confirmed my suspicions and so, here we sit."

At that point Anna sat and Carl rose and said that on behalf of the Trenton P.D., he wanted to apologize for not warning of the threat. Steph reassured him that there was no way anyone could have known that Joe was serious, but thanks for the apology all the same. At that point the floor was turned to Ranger who explained that once they were in the same room Steph had taken over like the expert that she has become. He explained that Morelli had underestimated Steph and had only tied her with rope and hadn't checked her for weapons. Tank, Carl, Bobby, and Lester all muttered something that sounded suspiciously like "Morelli always did underestimate her."

And Ranger continued to tell of how Steph had freed her hands and knocked out Joe with a wicked uppercut when he tried to kiss her. Then when he was out she got her knife, cut herself free and then freed him. After that, together they held him in the air while Steph kneed his balls hard. Then they called Tank. Everyone agreed that they were fortunate that they had been held in the same place, but Bobby, Lester and Tank all said that it wouldn't have mattered Steph would have found Ranger no matter what and gotten him out. She always got her man. At that everyone laughed and the meeting was adjourned.

At that point Ranger, Steph, Ric and Anna all headed home to the Batcave, with Uncle Manuel following close behind. Tank, Bobby and Lester went to their respective homes and the rest of the guys went to continue their shifts, but everyone was relieved. On the way home, Ric said to his family, I'm not ever going to underestimate Anna again, or try to cut her out of things. She is very resourceful and has amazing "Spidey Senses"."

Ranger laughed and said, "It's a good thing you learned it now and early, son; it will save many headaches later on. I wish I had learned as fast with your mom, it would have saved a lot of stress." Then turning to Anna he said,' I'm proud of you little one." Looking at Steph he said, "Proud of you too, Babe. I'm proud of how this whole family worked together. Maybe someday the world will learn that you don't mess with the Manosos."

Steph said to Ranger, "Hey, Ranger. Remember how you always used to tell me your life was going to put me in danger and that's why you couldn't do a relationship? Well it looks like it was my life that put us in danger, not yours. I'm glad you listened to reason. I love you, Carlos."

"Smartass", said Ranger, "I love you too, Babe."

The kids at the same time in the backseat said at the same time, "Sounds like we need to have a family history lesson tomorrow."

"Oh, boy", Steph said, "This will be fun, huh Ranger?"

"Sure Steph, whatever you say. Just make sure you make me look like a badass."

"Whatever you say, Batman, whatever you say", said Steph as they all went into the house to go to bed. She was thinking what an interesting talk they would have with the kids tomorrow. And she was hoping Ranger wouldn't bring up the shower rod incident, but knew that since it was one of his favorites and it was tied to Morelli, it probably couldn't be avoided…


End file.
